Talented
by waterbluewings
Summary: Demigod Academy For the Talented; commonly known as DAFT. It's where Demigods come to learn and expand their skills, not just how to hack away heads. Annabeth, Piper, and Thaila get invited to study there, along with the three boys, Percy, Nico and Jason. Swords clash, hearts mend and break, but only a few rise and become truly talented.
1. Invitation

**Hey guys! How do you like this? Reveiw to tell me if I should continue or not. Also check out my other account waterbluewings. that has more one-shots. From now, this will be more like longer stories, and waterbluewings will be more shorter ones. Hope you like this! I have an idea, go look at my profile ~bluewaterwings. PM me to tell me if you like it. **

**_~The best of waterbluewings  
_**

**_~bluewaterwings.  
_**

Annabeth Chase is an architect. She always held interest in it for some reason she couldn't describe, she thought it was amazing, it was something solid, something that would stay, unlike her life. Maybe that was why. Her life was broken, her parents were divorced, and her father always came home drunk, she didn't know why she was still at school, and why not working for money, most of all, where did all that money come from? Everyday she'd go shopping for clothes, finding all the sales, and cutting out coupons from newspapers. Though the 'food money' jar was always half-full, so she came to the conclusion that her father did still work, only when he was sober enough too. He at least had enough sense to have money in the jar, at least enough to keep him alive, that was good. He'll need it.

He'll be needing it a lot when she got this creamy envelope that just screamed, 'I'm rich!'. It said, in fancy script, 'To: Annabeth Chase.'.

_Now who might this be? _Annabeth thought. She flipped the envelope around. There was a blue seal that said, 'DAFT'. She looked at the seal.

_DAFT? I think I've heard of it somewhere... _She thought. She shrugged her shoulders and opened the letter, being careful so the wonderful stationary didn't rip and the envelope was unharmed.

_Miss Annabeth Chase,_

_ I would like to invite to you to learn at the Demigod Academy For the Talented. We have viewed your school records and you have qualified for a spot at the Academy with free tuition. Your room, board, and food are pre-paid already. Please bring your own clothes and toiletries. Classes start on the twenty-fifth of November, please write back to us if you are accepting this offer and attending or not, also please request times/courses. Information on this will be on the next page. Please turn to the next page for more information on the Academy._

_ Principal,_

_ Mr. Chiron. _

Annabeth smiled. Now she knew where she had heard of 'DAFT', it's been everywhere since it was established. It was a special school for over-exceeding students. It doesn't matter if they are stupid, it's that they are overly-excelled at one part. So some person could get 'F' and still make it in because, for instance, they are good at basketball. You could get in in multiple ways. THough just getting 'A+' all the time won't work too, because if everyone could try hard enough, they could get 'A'. This is for those students who are thirteen and already beat the world record, for those who just glance at a pile and know how many there are in it. For those who excel at beauty, those who earn much more money that the average adult already.

Annabeth thought of her mother. Athena. She was a godess, Athena used to often visit her dreams, only saying that she was 'mother'. Soon, Annabeth found out that she was a demigod. She wasn't very, _that _happy about it, but she learned to embrace and accept it. It did come with it's perks, a much more better competition for valecdictorian, now that some Athena kids went to her school, and a much more better advantage for being valecdictorian. Those are small things compared to almost getting your body eaten my Sirens, or the minotaur wanting to crush you to peices. Again, there are perks to being a demigod. She focused her attention back to the envelope.

_What did I do to get in? _ She thought. _Well, maybe by being a demigod. _

She really didn't do much. She had been to few corporations who paid her a hundred dollars to do some basic designing, after all, she didn't really do much. She smiled and flipped to the next page.

_Welcome Annabeth,_

_ You have qualified for DAFT! The Demigod Academy For the Talented! We hope you enjoy the stay here! _

_ You will be given a room will your room mates. You will each have your own room with your own bathroom, there will be a main room in the middle of your dorms. Breakfast is held at five AM to eight AM, luncheon will be from eleven AM to one PM, dinner is from seven PM to nine PM. A dessert bar will be held at eleven PM to twelve PM, snack bar at three PM to four PM. _

_ Your schedule will be working around this times for meals. Free-time is open at meals and also an hour before dinner all the way to your first class. You are only allowed off-campus with teacher directions, or with a pass. _

_ If you are planning on staying, please reply with the times of your lunch, and your extra courses. Your main course will already be chosen from your strengths, and please be ready for departure on the day. The address is on the bottom. _

_ Chiron_

_Yes, yes, yes! I am so going! _She thought and mailed to 'DAFT' that she was going.

~line break~

_Annabeth,_

_ We are joyed to see that you have accepted our offer. This is your schedule._

_5:00-7:00 - Breakfast_

_7:01-8:00 - Free Study_

_8:01-9:00 - Greek Mythology_

_9:01-11:00 - Basics to Architecture _

_11:01-12:00 - Lunch_

_12:01-1:00 - Free Study/ Free Time_

_1:01-3:00 - Architectural Design _

_3:01-4:00 – Battle Tatics _

_4:01-6:00 - Mathematics_

_6:01-9:00 - Dinner_

_9:01-10:00 - Free Study_

_10:01-12:00 - Free time/ Free study *Dessert bar is at 11:00-12:00_

_Thank you_

_Chiron._

Annabeth smiled. Her main course was obviously Architecture.

~line break~

Annabeth loaded up her trunk, and stepped into her grey Volkswagen Beetle. It was pretty old, her mother accidentally left it here with them, and didn't take it back. She went on to the journey all the way to 'Half-blood Hill'.

It was grand place, a huge white building, with a large parking lot in front of it. THere was many Greek statues in the front, large columns. It was bigger than the White House. She parked into a open spot and sighed. Her first day in a grand place. She climbed out of her car. She was wearing everyday clothes, boot-cut jeans, sneakers, a gray tee and a white jacket. She walked to the main office.

"Annabeth Chase," She said to the reception desk.

"Here you go," The lady said and handed her piece of was staying with girls named Thalia Grace and Piper McLean. She was staying in room 25, floor eleven. She went back to her car and took out her suitcases. A bell boy came and helped her, loading all three suitcases, and a few other bags.

"Floor eleven room twenty five please," Annabeth said. She sat at the steps, against one marble pedestal and sketched the whole outside of the building. The architecture o this building was complex, beautiful, and had this feeling of simplicity. Soon she was upstairs outside her dorm. Along with the papers the lady gave her, she gave her two room keys. She slid one in and opened the door. It was a huge main room. There was a small fireplace and a few chairs. A large study with three chairs. She looked at one of the doors, 'Annabeth Chase,'. She opened it. It as a room with a large window, a plain bed, a desk, a nightstand, lamp, and two doors. One eld a walk-in closet and another one to a bathroom. The bthroom with a tub, a shower, a sink, a toilet, nothing really fancy. She unpacked her clothes into the closet, and she brought her own gray sheets and pillows. She set her computer on the desk. She went outside back to the main room. Now there were two other girls in the room, sitting on the couches.

They turned around at the sound of a door opening. One had brown, choppy hair, with braid down the side, the other had black hair, blue eyes, straight down her back.

"Hi, I'm Piper," The girl with the brown hair said.

"Thaila," The girl with the black hair stated.

"I'm Annabeth, Annabeth Chase," She said.

"So..." Piper started.

"What are you guys majoring in?" Thalia cut in

"Architecture," Annabeth said immediately.

"Oh," A surprised look surpassed Piper's face, "Build anything great and grand?"

"No really, I did help on a lot of them," Annabeth said, looking down at her feet.

"Like what?" Piper asked, curiosity all over her face.

"The Bird's Nest in the China Olympics," She said, her face now red.

"Awesome!" Thalia said,

"What are you guys doing?" Annabeth asked, desperate to get out of the limelight.

"Ehh... I don't even know _why _I like it, but I'm doing modeling and cosmetics," Piper said, picking at her fingernails. Annabeth glanced at what she was wearing. A plain white shirt, a loose snowboarding jacket, some skinnies and some scuffed Reebok sneakers. It was pretty casual for someone like her, she was most definitely pretty, but by the looks of it, she was trying to over it. It showed, her messy braid, her loose, casual clothing, worn shoes, and no makeup.

"I'm more of archery," Thalia said, getting into pose.

"Wow? They actually allow that?" Annabeth asked.

"What do they _not _allow?" Thalia countered.

"Maybe getting off campus without supervision," Annabeth said, a wry smile ghosting off her lips.

"Second-years get to, we're first years," Thalia sniffed, obviously not comfortable with the thought of being looked down to.

"Is there like an age limit to this place?" Piper asked.

"Probably not, I saw a eleven-year old girl walking up the steps like she owned the place. Probably a third-year," Thalia said, frowning.

"So, I guess we're all demigods?" Piper stated, looking at us in turn.

"Isn't everyone here a demigod?" Thalia asked.

"No, I heard a mortal, a Dare, came here," Piper said.

"A Dare?" Annabeth asked.

"You seriously don't know them?"

"No."

"They own like the biggest company _ever,_"

"Oh really?"

"Yea, well we're all demigods,"

"Daughter of Aphrodite." Piper said, frowning a bit.

"Fiqured, just by knowing what you majoring in," Thaila said.

"How about you Annabeth?" Piper asked.

"Athena."

"Oh, another smartie wartie," Thalia said, teasing her.

"Hey!" Annabeth said, comming to her own defense.

"Whatever, how about you Thalia?" Annabeth said.

"Promise you'll keep this a secret?"

"Yea, promise."

"Zues,"

"Woah... like Zues _Zues, _the Big Three and all that?"

"Yea."

"Oh"

"Your pretty powerful then right?"

"Oh I don't know,"

"Who comes here?" Annabeth asked.

"All kinds of people, they say The Luke comes here to study," Thalia says, eyes shining with excitement.

"Who is he?" Piper asks.

"Yea, who is he?" Annabeth added.

"You guys seriously don't know him?" She asked.

"No,"

"Whatever, my brother's coming, let's go downstairs." Thaila said.

"_Brother?_" Piper asked.

"Yea,"

"How old is he?" Piper asked.

"Our age," Thaila said, but before anyone could say anything, she said, "My _adoptive brother_,"

"Oh,"

"Yea,"

Annabeth looked out of the just in time to see three Ford Mustangs slide into the parking lot, one blue, one black, one gold.

"Hey can you go off-campus with a second-year?"

"Yea, why?"

"Nothing, just thinking,"

"Trying to get off-campus soon?"

"Maybe,"


	2. Dorm Mates and Friends

**Hi back again :) Here's your second chapter. thanks for the reveiws! **

**Athenas Demigod Daughter: _Sure! I'll be adding those somewhere... next 2-3 chapters? won't be suprised if they were on the next :) _  
**

**__alejandrita0202: _LOL same here! FOREVER! i'm more Jasper than anything, then it's Percabeth :) But i just love percabeth too much to let this one slip through my fingers :) I'm writing a Jasper right now :) _**

**__I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, or The Heros of Olympus, and I am not Rick Riordan.  
**

**I'd like to give thanks to my awesome beta: SuavePanda  
**

**SuavePanda is like... extremely nice :) and one of the first persons I met here :) and she speaks truth and gives me good feedback ;) and she does all stories... but i won't overwhelm her and all... sooooooooooooooooooooo  
**

**still looking for betas... urghhh  
**

**you have no idea how hard it is to find betas when there only like 25 and on the grouping...thingyy on the right only says French (3) German (2) and Spanish (5), it's frustrating.  
**

**Right now I am like burried in the book: Ripple. Awesome story.  
A girl stands behind a tree seeing Cole Hitchings skipping rocks on the lake surface.  
**

**_why is he here?_  
**

**_why is he on my lake?  
_**

**__She doesn't want to kill another person  
**

**_I can make it another day. Then I need to come back._  
**

**__and... this is really long Authors note... sssssoooooo more reveiws? i want to see what my audience thinks. :) reach for 10 XD  
**

**here you go, and tell me if this is annoying. i tend to get annoying and ramble and... yea see?  
**

**here's your story, and i need to tell myself to shut up  
**

Chapter 2

"You want to go down to greet them?" Thalia asked.

"Sure," Annabeth replied, staring curiously at the cars.

"Are they first years like us?" Piper asked.

"Nope," Thalia said, popping the 'p'.

"Then, if he is the same age as you, and your brother..." Annabeth said.

Thaila sighed, "Look, guys, I didn't get in last year okay? I wasn't amazing enough for the oh-so-great Chiron,"

"Oh, well then, let's go," Piper managed, trying hard to avoid lighting the TNT.

"Yea, lets go," Thalia said, subdued somewhat.

Waiting for the elevator for a few minutes, Annabeth stopped to stare at the architecture. It had columns etched into the wall at either side of the door, the elegant tops dusted with gold. The rest a sparkly, yet dull white. The elevator doors were golden.

"You know what guys? Let's take the stairs," Piper said.

Annabeth thought she heard Thaila muttering something about installing more elevators. Well this place needs a bit of a clean-up, it's much too busy now.

Quickly dashing down the stairs, at times, jumping, the three girls finally made it down. Down one level, then another, another, all the way to the bottom.

"That could be a daily workout!" Piper laughed, clutching her sides.

"Whatever guys, I spy my brother and my brother's friend. And, he got another one I suspect," Thalia said.

"Who?" Piper asked, probably her Aphrodite part kicked in, because there was this suspicious, curious gleam in her eyes.

"My brother's Jason and his for some stupid reason, all-time friend, Mr. oh-so-great Percy Jackson," Thaila muttered.

"And he brought someone along didn't he," She continued.

"Grace! Come here!" Thaila yelled.

Even from here, you could hear him groan in annoyance. He reluctantly came over dragging his friends too. Jason was well over Thaila, but he seemed to cringe whenever Thaila was there.

"My friends, Annabeth and Piper," She said, gesturing to Annabeth and Piper.

"Well, this is Nico, and this is-" Jason said, to be cut off by the other person,

"Percy, Percy Jackson," He said.

"Annabeth Chase," Annabeth said, introducing herself, even though Thaila already did.

"Whatever, Piper McLean," She said, glaring at the boys.

"Like-" Nico started.

"Yes, yes, yes! The guy who killed the other guy with the sword, the famous actor, and all that," Piper said, now frowning.

"Ok, ok, guys, Jason, Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Me, Got all acquainted? Good," Thaila cut in and ushered all of them out.

"Wait!" Something called behind them. They turn around. It was Percy who talked.

"Yea?" Thalia asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you guys majoring in?" He asked.

"Archery," Thalia said, jabbing a finger in her direction.

_"_Cosmetics and modeling," Piper said

"Architecture," Annabeth said offhandedly, thinking about designs at the moment.

"Oh," Percy said, "Swimming,"

"I'm more like anything with a ball," Jason said, winking.

"So you do ping-pong?" Thalia asked.

"Er... not really," Jason muttered.

Thaila laughed, rolling her eyes.

"How about badminton?" Piper asked.

"Not really that either..." Jason said, looking down at the ground,  
Annabeth smirked, rolling her eyes.

"Erm... sculpting?" Nico said, making it sound like a question.

"Like art?" A red-head cut in.

"Rachel E. Dare," the redhead said, raising her arms and set them on Jason and Nico's shoulders, heaving herself up so was balancing on her arms, swinging in the air.

"I'm majoring in art, if you can call it majoring, this isn't even a college," Rachel said.

Nico squired under the pressure his shoulder was getting. Jason frowned.

"Well, just sculpting, Percy here is doing swimming and Jason is doing anything with a ball," Nico explained.

"Save ping-pong," Thaila snicked, "Also badminton," Piper added.

"Well bye Red," Thalia said,

"Red?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah, Rachel E. Dare, R. E. D. Also your hair's red, such a coincidence," Thaila smirked and turned around.

Annabeth glanced at Piper, Piper shrugged and followed Thaila.

"Nice work Thaila, first day and you got yourself an enemy," Piper said, clapping her hands.

"Hey she was asking for it," THaila shrugged.

"How was she asking for it?" Annabeth asked, fingering the couch she was sitting on

"Well, her hair is just so red, and I just noticed that her initials spell red, it was like practically screaming at me, 'tease me! tease me!'." Thaila argued.

"Well school starts tomorrow, let's go get dinner," Annabeth said, now looking intently on her watch.

"Yea sure, it should be on floor one," Thalia said and stood up.

"Just let me grab my bag," Piper said, quickly snatching up a small purse, Annabeth could see the side that said 'Gucci'.

Thaila grabbed her silvery and small backpack, while Annabeth just shouldered her big bag that said 'A.C'.

Thaila spotted Annabeth's bag, "What do you carry in that thing?"

"Money, sunglasses, computer, folders and papers, car keys," She said in a defensive tone.

"It's so big," Piper said,

"Ok, guys, it is big, let's just go," Annabeth said and opened the door, the three girls stepped outside to be swept into a big crowd.


	3. Dinner

**Ok. Ok. I'm sorry guys. I had the first part all finished and everything, and i didn't do the last part. Or else this would've been uploaded last weeek.. FINE YELL AT ME. and also, maybe I over-exaggerated the crowd a bit... ok? Also. For my procrastination, I will give the next... 5 reveiwers a preveiw to the next chapter. and that's only for today or tommorrow becuase i'm going somewhere on fri and not comming back till school starts. so sorry guys. so yea. I"ll try to get to you as soon as possible. and remeber i only have my computer till 7Pm. thanks. bye**

**i don't own anything. 3  
**

**also a like for procrastination? We all love procrastination. I know you do  
**

"I think this is the main time where everyone goes to eat dinner?" PIper shouts over the crowd.

"I guess?" Came the muffled reply from Annabeth, somewhere to the left of Piper.

"Ehh! Where are you guys!" Thaila said, somewhere in front of them, being swept by the crowd. THe two girls, pushed and rushed through the endless crowd of girls and took Thaila's hand.

"Stairs?" Piper asked.

"Stairs," Annabeth replied, they took the stairs two-three at a time all the way down.

Landing at the bottom, Annabeth tugged her shirt down a bit, and spotted Nico waving at them.

"Hey, Thalia, look there! Nico is waving at us!" She calls at Thalia, who was scopping around the place, trying to catch a table.

"Oh really?" Thalia asked, approaching the table.

"Hey," Percy said,chewing on his hot dog.

"Can we leave our stuff here?" Piper asked, dropping her bag and walked off, not bothers to find out the answer.

Annabeth smiled apologetically and put her bag down on an empty seat and dashed off to catch up with Piper. Thalia just yelled, "Hey, Annie! Get me some fries and a soda!" She was received with a distant, "I will not follow your orders!"

Annabeth walked into line, remember her room card.

"Room card?" The lady at the register asked Piper.

"Oh um.." She said, trying to find her key card.

"She's with me," Annabeth quickly interrupted, pulling out hers, and handing it to the woman.

"Ok, this is charged onto your tab... Annabeth Chase," She said, handing back to the card. Annabeth was handed a receipt that said **'Twenty dollars- Dinner meal' **and a few spaces under that, the same thing.

"Thanks, your a lifesaver," Piper said, reaching for a tray,

"I don't think that qualifies as saving your life," Annabeth interjected.

"Oh I'm sure it does, I was about to combust with hunger," Piper replied, taking a box of Chicken Salad, Thousand Island dressing, some Pepsi. Annabeth stared at Pipers tray and got a hot dog, some Dr. Pepper, fries and Cola for Thalia.

"So much for twenty," Annabeth muttered, glancing at Piper's tray, "At least it wasn't sixty," Annabeth added, with a note of relief.

"Hey guys," PIper said, sitting back down and hungrily attacking her salad.

"Fries," Annabeth said, harshin flopping down the fries in front of Thalia's face, took one and threw it at her.

"Hey!" Thalia protested and threw a handful at Annabeth's hair.

"Don't waste money," Annabeth chided and punched Thalia on the shoulder.

"So class starts tomorrow. Who bets that I can be swim captain with two days?" Percy asks.

"It's not really fair, you are like the only son of Poseidon here!" Piper protests.

"True," Percy says, nodding his head.

"Ten bucks, you'll get captian, within two days," Annabeth sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Twenty he won't," Nico says, grinning wickedly at Percy.

"Your lack of faith wounds me," Percy says, faking wiping a tear off his cheek.

Annabeth sighed and backed out of the playful banter and took out her laptop. She opened a word document and started to write down all the thins the Gods told her they wanted. Having to have a separate list of 'Statues to Construct' made her smile, becuaseof the sheer number and space it's going to take up.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked, leaning over to peer at her laptop.

"Hey, what type of computer is that?" Thalia asked, looking at the sign.

"It's a one of a kind Daedalus, it's supposed to be this invention store, but the owner, Daedalus, gave his computer to me." Annabeth smiled at the memory.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked again

"Designing," Annabeth replied tartly.

"Designing what?" Nico asked.

"Ahh... the million dollar question," Annabeth said, not knowing how to put that she was designing _Olympus_.

She decided to go straight forward.

"Designing -" Annabeth started.

"Hello!" Someone cut her off, Rachel.

"Hey Rach!" Piper said, Thaila just gave a sickly sweet smile that was most definitly fake. Annabeth threw Thalia a look that said 'Cut it off? What did she do too you?'. Thalia just responded with a shrug.

"Oh did I interrupt you?" Rachel asked Annabeth,

"Nothing, not really... that important," Annabeth managed.

"Oh, ok! Well, I was wondering if we can like all... I don't know, meet up like... tommorow night?" Rachel asked.

"Sorry, but school night, I have a lot to do, in fact I need to do some things right now," Annabeth interrupted, picking up her things, and her laptop.

"Like what?" Rachel asked.

"Oh... nothing much," Annabeth said offhandedly, "This and that.. you know?"

Rachel nodded.

"I got to go," Annabeth said, picked up her lunch and threw it in the garbage.

Walking back to her dorm, her thoughts were pointed to Percy, and Rachel. Rachel looked like she could be a good friend, but she could also be a snob and really pushy. Percy was... cute she'd have to admit, though she came to DAFT not to get a boyfriend. She came so she could pursue the career she had in mind. She smiled a bit and unlocked the door to her dorm. She opened the document again and took out some paper and pencils. She started sketching the design she had in mind, lightly filling it in with the two hundred colored pencils she brought. She calculated expenses, the God's treasure chests did have a bottom, even if the chest is miles long and filled with gold. She gently penciled out the outline of the God's faces, then the body, the poses, and where to set them.

"Annie!" Thalia's voice sounded in the living area, she was in her room.

"Don't call me that!" Annabeth yelled back.

"Whatever Annie, but I'm back!" Thalia said, she heard the sofa wheezing, Thalia must've jumped on it.

"Same here Annie!" PIper's voice came through the door.

Annabeth groaned.

"School day is tomorrow go to sleep!" Annabeth yelled back.

"Fine mom!" Thalia grumbled and heard a door close.

Annabeth smiled and continued to do her work.

**Hows that?**

**Also about the reward. it won't be like a sentence, it will be like somethign at the end, or the middle, or beginning, a clif hanger or something. When it will actulaly be a sentence, is when if i say more than that, it's going to give away everything.  
**

**ALSO SCHOOL TOMMORROW LET"S SEE THIER TEACHERS! (someday later)  
**

**~bluewaterwings  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guyz and galz! I'm back from summer vacation :) sorry for the late update, it actulaly too me like 2 weeks to write this up with a lot of help from a good friend. My BFF who is an awesome writer. Out of our friends. I'm the romance writer. I guess this her shot at romance? I already know that I suck at violence (her topic), she's also a good fantasy writer. XP I"m the romance and horror. So at the end she added some stuff, made Rachel extra bitchy (i didn't aprove, but didn't delete. but will smooth over), so here is your next chapter. I feel the kiss comming closer (cue friend's groan of disgust). So I hope you guys like this. Exxtra stuf comming soon :) Maybe I will bring down the extra. or i will add them at the end of the book. :) Right now... I need a new friend to PM and whine to. :) Anyone is free to PM me at any time and I will get to you :) we will keep up a lasting conversation (account person must be a person who visits his/her account at least once a week). Our convo topic will vary becuae of my randomness (falline in the woods... hobos, remember?) XD And also the ups about PMing me. chances of being a beta and preveiws are like 50% more. XD don't know if that's a lure.**

**But reveiw guys :) I am forever improving my skillz.**

**waterbluewings**

**will luv u guys 4evar :) XP**

Chapter 4

Annabeth found her head cushioned on something uncomfortable and hard. She opened her eyes and saw her neat penciled notes on the perimeters of the music room. She had fallen asleep and her pen had made a huge slash in the middle of the page. Annabeth groaned in annoyance. Now she would have to write it again; there was a chance she might misinterpret the notes due to the line. She yawned and stood up, walking over to her bathroom and quickly brushing her teeth, taming her hair, and pulling it into a ponytail. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was five thirty. Annabeth sighed, and changed into jeans, an orange tank and grabbed her, as Thalia put it, big purse and left the dorm, walking to overly slow elevators. She got into the elevators (she noted that this was the first time she'd been into the ones in the place) She looked at the glass buttons with the golden numbers. She pressed the one button. Walking back into the food court, she bought some pancakes, orange juice, and bacon. She took out her notes and first tried to white it out. No use, it just made it look worse. Finally, sighing and giving up, she drew out another piece of paper and started copying it down.

Half way through, someone sat next to her. She looked up.

"Percy?"

"Hey," Percy replied.

"What are you doing this early in the morning?" Annabeth asked.

"Swim practice. Warming up." Percy replied. She noticed his hair-perfectly brushed and in place. She noted every single tone of color, the seemingly softness of its surface-

Annabeth shook her head in confusion. What was going on with her? The main thing was, his hair was utterly dry.

"I don't believe you, you're totally dry," Annabeth replied quickly.

"Son of Poseidon thing," Percy replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Oh, okay," Annabeth said and resumed writing down her notes, keeping her eyes trained on the movement of her pen tip and trying hard to not think about how closely Percy was sitting next to her. The sleeve of his jacket brushed her bare arm, and she jerked it back, but he didn't seem to notice.

"What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"Taking notes," Annabeth said, still trying to focus on dotting all her i's.

"How can you take that much notes without your hand cramping?" Percy asked.

"It's a daughter of Athena thing," Annabeth laughed, to clear up her nervousness. "Have you had breakfast?"

"Yeah, before I went to warm-up," Percy replied. After a few moments of awkward silence, Annabeth decided to break it and leave; it was getting too uncomfortable for her.

"Oh well, it's almost time, so I have to go to class," Annabeth muttered and gathered her stuff and headed out.

"Yeah, me too," he said. He seemed a bit startled at her sudden wanting to leave.

She was halfway across the room when his voice stopped her. "Hey," Percy said, hesitantly.

"Yeah, Percy?"Annabeth asked, turning around.

"Um...never mind, I'll just get going," Percy said, apparently changing his mind, and he walked out, leaving a group of lovesick girls in his wake.

"Oh, okay," Annabeth said, confused, but he was far too away to listen.

After her free-study period, (which she didn't take studying, but drawing out Olympus), she took off to her Greek mythology class.

~LINE BREAK~

"Hello, class! Welcome to Greek mythology. I believe that all of you are demigods...well almost all, so this, in the mortal world, is advanced, _advanced_ mythology," the teacher said. When the class gave no response, he cleared his throat, and continued. "My name is Mr. Diablo, and as I said before, I will be teaching you Greek mythology in advanced methods. Today, we will just be getting to know each other, going over what we already know about Greek mythology and the most known myths and creatures. Let us begin with role call now..."

His voice trailed off as his head twisted around to look at his untidy desk. "Just a moment, class, I'm sure the roster's here somewhere..."

His statements led only to more silence, in which Annabeth once again started thinking about Percy and Rachel... In fact, her thoughts were trained so hard on the rude, redhead girl and Poseidon's curious son that she nearly jumped out of her seat when the teacher called her name. "Annabeth Chase?"

"Wha-what?" she asked, looking around sharply. All eyes were trained on her, and she could've sworn they were all silently laughing at her. Embarrassed, she shrank back against the chair and mumbled, "Here..."

"Annabeth, is paying attention in class a problem for you? Of course, all demigods have problems with sitting still, and you were fidgeting a lot with your hair while I was calling names. Maybe time after class would be necessary-"

This called her attention and she shot up from her seat. "No, sir, not a problem at all. I have a majoring class after this and I would not want to miss it, thank you."

He frowned. "Well, alright, if you wish..."

The rest of the class period went on as scheduled, and by the time the bell rang, Annabeth was already out of her seat and dashing for the door, her bag thumping against her back. She sped through the hallway and towards her next classroom, shoving through the throng of students pouring out through the doors. After all, she didn't want to be late, and she wanted to be there first to choose the best seat.

At the last bend in the hallway she turned and ran straight into someone's body. "Oof!" she yelped and stumbled backward. A hand shot out and steadied her, still holding onto her back even when she regained balance.

She was about to excuse herself when a familiar voice said, "Annabeth, you alright?"

Percy. For some reason, her heart skipped a beat, her breathing became unsteady, and her skin prickled with uneasiness at the closeness of him and from the way he placed his hand on her back. "Uh-um-I-uh...yes, I'm...fine," she stuttered. Annabeth shook off his hand, and for moment, Percy looked a bit disappointed, but he quickly recovered his normal expression. "I must be going..." she mumbled.

For a second, she thought he might object, and then to her horror, realized that she _wanted _him to object. But he didn't. Percy just shrugged. "Yeah, me too. See you at lunch then?"

Nodding in a daze, she said, "Sure."

He turned heel and disappeared around the corner. Annabeth watched him go.

_Snap out of it. Architecture remember? _This jolted her to reality and she was about to turn around and dash into her class, but a flash of vibrant red caught her eye.

It was Rachel. Her eyes were watching Annabeth's every move, and there was something about her piercing green eyes that set Annabeth at unease, and there was an obvious threatening in them. And Annabeth knew exactly what it was about.

Her jaw set in annoyance. _Well you can have him, redhead! I came here to study architecture, not to get a boyfriend. I don't even like him anyways-! _She stopped, for she knew it wasn't true, not in anyway. Besides, she couldn't avoid Percy forever just because Rachel wanted her to.

With that, Annabeth met Rachel's eyes with a steady gaze of challenge, and walked into her classroom.

~LINE BREAK~

All the seats up front and the middle were already taken, but Annabeth had wanted to sit in the back anyways, so she had chosen the center column with the very last seat, to work on constructing her projects and be able to pay attention to the teacher's lesson. It proved to work out rather well.

Her thoughts led to Percy again.

_Snap. Out. Of. It! Annabeth, focus. Remember, this architecture! Hello? Your _favorite _subject?_

But unwillingly, her thoughts traced back to him.

_If he's the son of Poseidon, then he's pretty powerful right? Girls will be chasing for him because of his...powers. Plus, he _is _kinda cute...OH SHUT UP! I'm not supposed to be one to judge looks...but still, I wonder how he'll react?_

Standing up when class was over, I made my way over to the lunch hallway. Sure enough, I can see a crowd of girls huddled over at one end. Curious, I stay as close as possible to the crowd without being conspicuous.

"Did you _see _him_?_ That was _definitely _Jason Grace. I can't believe he's actually related to Thalia, such a shame, you'd think that they'd both hold good looks," a girl said.

"And don't forget Percy Jackson!" another girl called out.

"_Perseus _Jackson, Gods, it makes him sound like a Greek God!" someone squealed.

They were all making her sick to the stomach.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could make out Rachel taking this time to heighten up her climb on the social ladder.

"I've met him," Rachel calls out.

"Oh really?" someone asks doubtedly.

"Yep, he has the prettiest green eyes ever...oh, and his-" Annabeth cut her off from there, and returning to her stride, she made her way to the center of the crowd of girls.

"And I'm friends with him. I even know Jason Grace, and his sister," she said, barely resisting the urge to slap Rachel in the face.

A nearby girl rolled her eyes. "You're just showing off by telling us lies! What a fake!" The other girls mumbled an agreement, and Annabeth felt an uncontrollable heat of anger.

"But I do know them-" she started to say. Rachel was starting to call something out as well. She obviously loved attention. But the crowd of girls were already shouting arguing back at Annabeth, too busy to notice her.

Annabeth shut her eyes in panic. _Oh no, what have I done? Gods, help me please...I wish I had that invisibility cap right about now-_

And then the familiar voice saved her. "Hey, what's going on here?" Percy. _Thank Gods!_

The girls all stopped at once and gaped at who stood in front of them. Annabeth could hear them whispering to one another. "Is that who I think it is?" "It's Percy!" "Do you think he's available?"

Percy frowned at them. "What were you girls shouting at Annabeth for?"

One of them gasped. "You mean...you _know _her?"

He nodded, to Annabeth's relief. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"She's been telling the truth then! That she knows Thalia, Jason, you?" another asked.

Annabeth gulped before speaking. "And I also know Piper Mclean and Nico di Angelo."

"You do?" another gasped.

They all started whispering to one another again, and Percy cleared his throat. "Come on, Annabeth, let's get you away from these jerks..."

She smiled as they all gasped in disbelief that he had even said that about them. And Rachel, on the ladder still, was glaring at her, fires in her eyes. But Annabeth jumped in surprise as Percy placed his hand on hers, gripping it tightly, dragging her away from the fierce whispers of the crowd and the infuriated redhead.

~LINE BREAK~

Apparently, holding hands with a son of the Big Three was a big thing. Especially if he was cute and went by the name of Percy Jackson. Shocked voices went up all around us, and I ducked my head to hide my embarrassment as we went into the cafeteria. But Percy was ignoring them all completely, like he was used to the attention, and that was only to be expected of the son of Poseidon.

The only reason she hadn't started tripping was because Percy's presence steadied her. His hand clamped firmly around hers, and the warmth reassuring.

She didn't realize that they had both reached their usual table until she felt four inquiring gazes upon her.

"Dudes, you guys are really late today!" Nico remarked.

Thalia glanced first at me, then Percy, and back again. A grin spread wide across her face. "Got yourself a new girlfriend already then, Percy? Won't your father be pleased it was Athena's daughter!"

You should know that Athena and Poseidon...aren't gods that get along with each other. In fact, one of the only few times that they actually were able to work together was when they combined Poseidon's creation of the horse and Athena's invention of the wagon to make the chariot.

I felt my face turn more red, and even Percy was embarrassed by this. I squirmed out of his grasp, and he reluctantly let go without a word. Piper only cocked her head at us, smiling. Jason raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

"I'm _not _his girlfriend. He just got me out of the possibility of getting beat up by lovesick girls," she snapped. "I do not like him whatsoever!"

Percy looked up at her in surprise, the hurt and sadness clear in his sea-green eyes. They were completely heartbreaking, so Annabeth had to turn away from his gaze to keep from crying. "None?"

"None," she confirmed, hoping she sound more sure than she thought.

"How about your little crush Thalia?" Annabeth asked, knowing that Thalia didn't have one.

"What crush?" Thalia squeaked ignantly.

"Whatever," Annabeth finished, not wanting to drag out the lie.

"Going to get lunch," Annabeth said, and jogged over to the line.

"Me too," Percy said.

_What? Does he want to tell everyone that we are 'together'? Because we are not! I would want too... But no. We can't._

"Stay here," She hissed to Percy.

"Why?" Percy asked, eyebrows raising.

"Do you want people thinking that we're together?" Annbeth at the word 'together'.

"Ye-No," Percy said and Annabeth nodded and went to the lunch line, turning her head to make sure that Percy didn't follower her.

He didn't.

_No more stupid crushes Annabeth. Ok? _Annabeth plastered a smile on her face and raised her head, already feeling much better.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey! Sorry for the late update but this will be your new years/Christmas update. Don't be worried. All of my stories will be the same except for my Mortal Instruments one-shots :)**

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**~waterbluewings**

Chapter 5

After lunch, Annabeth went to the library, scouring the whole place until she stood in front of a little alcove surrounded by bookshelves. It was a secluded place, somewhere no one would easily stumble upon. A perfect place to sketch statues of the gods.

She sighed in relief as she plopped down on the satin bench and set down her bag, looking around keenly. The narrow, arched entrance was tucked away secretly in one corner of the alcove. On the stone walls in glass displays were Greek inventions, most of them being of Daedalus's designs. A few of them even had some scale models on a table below, a lot of them almost as realistic as the original scale models, (and she would know if they were), but of course, they weren't. They were far too valuable to be kept out in the open with no security whatsoever; she had searched every part of the library's floors and had found no cameras.

Sighing, she rounded and seated herself back down. Opening her laptop and putting it on the cherrywood table in front of her, she started sketching. Art and architecture tied in a lot with design. It was a relief that she had a decent talent of both. A line here and there, and she got the basic outline of Aphrodite down. She wrung her hands and looked at her checklist, (in alphabetical order, for the most part. Just categorized with A's before B's, and so on, no alphabetical detail.) Ares.

She looked out the window, meaning to rest her eyes from concentration of the dim white of paper. Outside, she could see the faraway horizon, the background with purple mountains that had faint greenness and occasional red-orange rock. She wasn't quite facing the bright sun that had started to slowly set in the west, though it was still high up in the clear blue sky. More of a southwest, or was it northwest? Either, way, she didn't care; geography didn't much interest her in the least.

Annabeth scanned her eyes downward. A barrier of pine trees that outlined the boundaries of the academy, the smoothly paved sidewalks with no sign of cracks in the concrete. That could only have been the work of professional demigod architects-regular cement wouldn't have lasted that long, and as far as she knew, this school hadn't needed any repairs since it was built. But mostly, the grounds were tiled. And spotless, of course.

There was also a view of the swimming pool with people streaming about, practicing flips and dives, racing. Probably swimming practice.

Without realizing it, her eyes searched the throng of people for someone. They found their target, and she watched as Percy dove into the pool from the plank on the highest platform.

He did a couple of mid air somersaults and flips before his lean figure landed neatly in without so much of a splash. Within seconds, he was across the pool, on the other side, and kicking off again.

She turned away, and tried to sketch Ares, though she knew very well she couldn't. A few seconds later, she was looking at a disfigured lump, and crumpled the paper with a growl of frustration.

Again, she looked out the window. He'd surfaced, completely dry. Annabeth, despite herself, stared at him, watching as he grinned at his peers and waved at them.

As he rubbed a towel unnecessarily on his perfectly dry hair, she noticed the bulge of his lean muscles, flexing when he stretched back in a yawn.

Fiercely, she thought to herself, _I don't like him. I don't like him. I don't like him. I _fuckin' _don't like him!_

_**Then why are you mooning over him? **_a voice inside her head smirked.

She blushed. _I am _not_! Mind your own business!_

_**Why? 'Cause it's true?**_

_Augh! Shut up!_

It did, which gave her a bit of satisfaction. She looked out again, one last time, promising herself she would concentrate on work afterward.

It hadn't occurred to her that Pretty-Boy would glance up at her with a knowing smile plastered to his face, a smile she suddenly wanted to badly to punch off his pretty little face. He caught her eye, and his smile widened into a grin. He waved at her eagerly, or maybe it wasn't eagerness, maybe he was mocking her.

-stop copying at previous line!-

Now he was _really _getting to her. _Don't you dare play that game again, Percy, don't you dare!_

She whipped her head around, determined not to look at him again and give him ideas. Then, something dawned her, and she fell into a brief period of panic. What if he decided to come up here? Then she'd _never _get peace!

She groaned and face palmed herself.

Hopefully, he'd seen the look of disdain on her face, (or at least, she hoped it'd been a look of disdain. Gods, who knew what else it could've been?), and would be smart enough to catch on and would be nice enough not to come up here and be a pain in the neck to no end.

When Annabeth finally summoned up the courage to look out the window again, she froze.

Blinking, she frantically searched for him, but to no avail-no Percy.

Where could he have gone? She frowned, going back to sketching.

"Hey," someone said and sat down next to her. She felt the couch shift beneath her.

She looked up. "Hey, Percy." She critically looked at the Pepsi can he was holding in his hand.

"Did you see the 'No Food or Beverages' policy sign in the front?" she asked.

"Nope," he said, swiping his hair from his eyes, giving her a rouge boyish grin that made her heart flutter.

"What are you doing?" He asked, wiping his mouth with his hand, then thumbing through a book. Annabeth wrinkled her nose and looked as his hand in disdain.

"Drawing," She said vaguely, fluttering her hands around her workstation. "It's my free period,"

"Awesome," He thumbed through another few pages, then the book landed on the table with a low thunk.

"Do you have any food?" Annabeth sighed then stared at Percy, "What?" He asked, his hand s in the air.

"I repeat, _Did you see the 'No Food or Beverages' policy sign in the front?_'" Annabeth punctured every word.

"There was one?" He asked, frowning, "I'll have to go check,"

"Percy," Annabeth frowned, "It's in your student handbook, a sign on the school bulletin, _and _a metal sign right when you walk in, how can you miss it? It's the same bulletin that you signed up for swimming,"

"Really?"

"Percy,"

"Fine, what are you doing?"

"Drawing," She said flatly.

"Drawing what?"

Annabeth closed her eyes, _just spit it out. Just spit it out. It's okay if anyone knows, _"Oh, I'm designing-." She stopped, "I'm just drawing the gods," _You are such a __**wimp **__Annabeth!_

"Interesting, any gods in particular?"

"Ares... Aphrodite," She muttered.

"I thought your mother is Athena?"

_This is getting awkward. Think Annabeth, Think! Why are you drawing Ares or Aphrodite?_

"Uh... because I think that... Ares... has cool muscles? Aphrodite is... really pretty?" She choked out.

"You think that Ares has cool muscles? And isn't that Aphrodite's job, being pretty? I think you should draw Poseidon. I mean, he has cool muscles too, just ten times better, and is really pre-" He coughed, "Handsome, I mean, handsome."

She just stared at him and said sweetly, "What if I'm don't want to draw him?"

"Then draw... me!" He said, showing off his muscles.

Annabeth averted her gaze and said a tart, "Nope, never,"

"I can't beleive you like _Ares's _muscles but not _Poseidon's_." He muttered.

She just smiled, "Look, it's almost time, I got to go,"

~*LINE BREAK*~

Architectural Design was pretty boring. It was the basics. The basics _basics_. Like first of all, all pieces must have support beams, and they had to build something with marshmallows and toothpicks. Sixth-grader stuff, she was looking for College and beyond things. She had a talk with the teacher, and had to ask her if the class is going to get harder.

The teacher's reply was, "Yes, in a few months,"

She'll have to stick to advanced library books again. And again. And again.

It's like it will never end. Sometimes, she thinks she needs to do something else, instead of reading colledge level books that made no sense. As she passed the bulletin again, something caught her eye. A blue flyer.

**Swimming lessons. **

**Please go to the swimming pool tomorrow at eight. You will be assigned a teacher.**

_Maybe I'll join... _she thought, as she unpinned the flyer from the board.


	6. Chapter 6

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Chapter 6

Honestly, she hadn't known what she had been thinking when she'd thought of joining the swimming lessons. It was seven thirty and she _still _hadn't found her swimming suit. Maybe she hadn't brought it? Pff. Of course she hadn't brought it; water wasn't her...terrain. She'd rather step away from it, the chances of her drowning in it was all the way up in the clouds.

What made her make such a rash decision?

"What'cha lookin' for?" Piper asked, as she swung around the door frame, piles of-was that _donuts?-_boxes in her arms.

"A swimming suit."

Piper's eyebrows raised. "Why would you want a swimming suit? I thought that Athena and Poseidon have this huge rivalry over that snakey-person-thingy-whatever?"

"Yeah, but I didn't pack a swimming suit. I think I've never even owned one in my life," Annabeth sighed and sat down on her bed.

"I'll let you borrow one of mine."

"One-piece please," Annabeth called after Piper, who was prancing out the door.

"Choosers can be pickers!" Piper sang.

Annabeth heard a crash. "Oh shit, my donuts!" Piper cursed.

After a while, Annabeth had gotten the last few problems of her homework done, and Piper came back in holding something behind her back.

"Ta-da!" Piper said, and thrust out a hot-pink and white polka-dotted _bikini. _in her face, like it was something grand.

"I thought I requested a one-piece?" I asked.

"I don't think I own one-pieces." Piper scrunched her nose. "Ask Thaila then."

"Sorry, none. Some kind of Poseidon-uncle-water-equals-no-no-zone kinda thing." Thalia poked her head through the doorframe.

"Then do you have something gray?" Annabeth asked.

"Wait one second," and Piper was back out of the door.

"Here!" Piper shoved a gray bikini with the hello kitty logo printed on the sides. This was probably the best Annabeth could get out of Piper.

"Thanks..." Annabeth changed into the bikini.

Piper was at the door, also in a swimsuit. A _one-piece._

"I thought you didn't have one-pieces!" Annabeth protested.

Piper just winked, "Consider that little white-lie tour return of favor for the dinner you bought me a few days back."

"How is this a return of favor!"

Piper didn't reply, just winked, again, "Wrap yourself in this," A gray towel was tossed at Annabeth, with the same pink border. Matching towels. How cliche.

As they approached the swimming pool, Annabeth started to doubt her choice; was it really smart of her to come here? Piper started to loop away.

"Where are you going, Piper?" Annabeth asked, desperate for a friend by her side.

"I already know how to swim," she replied, and flashed a smile at her, running off before Annabeth could protest.

"Shit," she cursed under her breath and turned back to the pool reluctantly.

"Language, darling!" Piper singsonged behind her back.

_Gather up your guts, Annabeth! Just walk in! _Annabeth gripped the door until her fingers turned white, and in a smooth motion she walked in, and breathed.

The place smelled like Percy. _Maybe I should come here more often. _Annabeth took one more whiff of the scent; it was spicy, salty, and of the sea. The air felt alive and burning. Annabeth ran over to a wooden desk at the front and gave the student her form.

**Name: **_Annabeth Chase_

**Year: **_First Year_

**Major: **_Architecture_

**Mother/Father: **_Athena_

**Teacher:**

**Signature: **_Annabeth Chase_

**Receptionist Signature:**

**Teacher Signature:**

The receptionist looked up at Annabeth. It was Rachel. "Are you sure you're in the right place, daughter of _Athena_?" she asked mockingly.

Annabeth swallowed, _I knew this was a bad idea. _"Yeah, I think so," she slowly said being careful of what she said. She didn't want to come off as a water-lover. Her mother would kill her.

"Oh well," the receptionist shrugged. She looked at her computer screen and wrote her flourish signature and Annabeth teacher's,

A whoosh of cold air writhed around Annabeth's bare legs; the door opened.

"Oh hey, Percy!" Rachel called, waving Annabeth's form madly in the air.

"Rachel, what's up?" Percy's familiar scent mixed with the air.

"Just filling out forms for the swimming classes; you're teaching some classes right?" Rachel asked. "_I _might be learning, too." She gave him a sickly sweet smile that turned Annabeth's blood cold.

"That's great." Percy was now standing next to her with no t-shirt, just blue swimming trunks. _Oh my Gods, what have I gotten myself into?_

Annabeth tried inching away from the desk. _This is so embarrassing! What was I thinking! I can't do this! I don't belong in the water and I"m wearing a _bikini _for Gods' sake!_

After a few steps, her plan failed. Miserably.

"Annabeth?" Percy asked, as he walked towards her, and put a hand on her towel-clad shoulder, spinning her around.

Annabeth squeaked and blushed. "I-uh-hey, Percy." Her voice came out a bit too squeaky, and a bit too embarrassed.

"What're you doing here?" Percy asked, smiling. Annabeth tucked her towel around her shoulders tighter.

"Swimming lessons," Annabeth said briskly, looking down at her feet. She heard Percy chuckle.

"Did you turn in your form?"

"Yeah...but-"

"Come on, I'll teach you."

"Re-really?" Annabeth asked, her insecurities making her wrap her towel around her even more tighter.

"Wait, _what?_" Then, seeming to realize the disbelief in her voice, Rachel cleared her throat. "Um, Percy, you aren't the teacher that I assigned her to-"

"There's no harm in changing it to me is there?" Percy flashed another perfect grin at her.

Rachel turned her fiery eyes on Annabeth. "Fine..."

As she turned away, Annabeth couldn't help but stick her tongue out. _Oh, whoops. Not supposed to like Percy, remember? I don't like him. I don't like him. I don't like-!_

And Percy took her hand, leading her through automatic sliding doors to outside. Annabeth blushed and hoped he wouldn't see it. It was just like last time, when she'd walked in the lunchroom with Percy, and the bright sun wasn't exactly helping her feel better. It made Annabeth's eyes squint, and the warmth made her skin feel like it was on outdoorsy really wasn't her terrain. Her terrain was hot-chocolate, desk, pencils, paper, a chair and under a roof, thank you very much. Percy, who was still holding her hand seemed unaffected.

"Put your towel there," Percy dragged a chair over and Annabeth hesitantly put her towel down.

She felt exposed. It didn't feel right at all. Annabeth felt Percy's eyes on her face, a hot, searing gaze that she couldn't divert her attention from.

"So..." Annabeth trailed, absentmindedly covering herself with her hands. They fluttered around, hand on her hips, across her chest (which she felt _more _than one pair of eyes look at her chest, apparently it made her boobs look bigger. Not exactly what she was looking for), and just by her side.

"Get in the water," Was Percy's amused reply, gesturing the blinding bright water. The light bounced off the waves shining into her eyes.

"Okay," Annabeth said to herself, "You can do that,"

She dipped one foot into the water, than another, deeper, and deeper. She was getting wary, this long, and some kind of freak water wave hadn't pushed her down or try to drown her? Suspicious.

Finally, when she down, standing at the last step, she felt this _surge _of water whistling at her ankles, the force pushed her.

"Woah!" And Annabeth fell face flat onto the water. Water rushed up her nose and into her mouth. She couldn't breathe, and she didn't dare open her eyes. She failed, the force of the water pushing her down.

Strong arms pushed her up and into the fresh, wonderful, sweet air. Annabeth gasped, inhaling ridiculous amount of air.

"Damn Poseidon," Annabeth said, glaring at the water. The water churned madly in reply, her feet, which were still in the water were pulled down, making her slide out of Percy's arms.

"Percy!" Annabeth gasped, flopping.

Percy laughed, and scooped Annabeth up, "You deserved _that _one, you cursed my dad. I have half a mind to just flop you back in,"

"No, Percy. No, don't you dare," Annabeth warned, wrapping her arms around Percy's neck, "If you do I'll kill you. I'm already about 400% done with swimming or water."

"I think I'll drop you back in," Percy laughed, the water churned greedily, agreeing.

And suddenly, her feet were back in the water, the water pulling along. Her arms which were still wrapped tightly around Percy's neck latched on tighter, dragging Percy down with her. Percy laughed, his face underwater. Annabeth opened her eyes, eyes widening at how close their faces were. She clung on tighter, Poseidon's water dragging her along by the feet.

Percy laughed again and scooped her up, this time out of the water.

"Your dad's an ass, why did he have to target me? Couldn't he target some other poor Athena kid?" Annabeth asked, glaring at the water.

"Probably because you're the only one stupid enough to actually step into water,"

"If I"m stupid then tour a Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said, "Why didn't you stop you father?"

"Because I was enjoying it,"

"Ass," Annabeth muttered and slapped his arm.

"Do you want to start with the _real _lesson first?" Percy asked,

"Without the water trying to drown me?" Annabeth asked warily

"Maybe," And Percy tossed Annabeth back into the water.


	7. Chapter 7

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Chapter 7

As promised-was 'maybe' qualified as a yes?-the water didn't try to drown her. But it was a 'maybe', so maybe _later _the water would try to drown her.

Annabeth hated maybe's; they could change. Change was a bad thing, according to her at least. Especially when her life was on the line. Especially when it was in the hands of a popular, powerful demigod, and she was currently in his terrain.

Things weren't looking up right now for Annabeth.

For now she'd have to trust him. After all, she was learning how to swim. It couldn't be that bad right?

"Do you know the basics?" Percy asked her.

She blinked. "What do you qualify as 'basics'?"

"Like treading water, and holding your breath under water."

Shoot.

"Uh..." she muttered, blushing. She passed that off as the harsh sun making her cheeks warm.

"Have you ever stepped into a swimming pool?"

"I've been to one." She smiled shyly at him.

"Have you ever swam in a swimming pool?"

"I am now."

He gave her that look.

"Maybe." She looked away.

Percy sighed. "We'll start from the basics then."

Standing in the water, Percy's waist was under, but his tanned, muscular, golden, perfect-...ly ugly chest was not. She reached his eyes. Almost. More like his nose. Or his chin.

He took her hand and gently led her along, to the deeper area, until her chest was underwater.

She found out it was kind of hard to walk underwater; there was like this invisible force that was trying to force her back. At one point, her feet almost flew out from under her.

"Put your head underwater," he said, and knelt down, until only his face was above water.

Annabeth gulped and looked at the water.

"It's okay, Annabeth, just put your head under." He put his warm hands on her shoulder, and gently pushed her down.

Annabeth tightly closed her eyes and inhaled and breath of hair under her cheeks were puffed with air. Suddenly, the water pushed against the back of her knees and she fell into the water. Her eyes popped open in surprise and quickly closed them when she realized she was underwater. After a few seconds, her waved her hands around, trying to push herself up.

Strong hands wrapped around her shoulders and lifted her up, setting her back on her feet. She gasped and opened her eyes, giving an accusing glare at Percy.

"Why'd you do that?" she asked, poking a finger at his chest.

"You were taking too much time." He smirked, and brushed at her wet hair. Her heart went on double-time.

"Well, I'm sorry I'm not a daughter of Poseidon," she said gruffly, and folded her arms across her chest.

The water rumbled and Percy laughed. "Dad doesn't want you as his daughter anyways."

"Good, because I don't want to be his," she said, and turned so her back faced him.

"Try again," he said, and his hands were pressing against her shoulder blades and gently pushing her down.

She inhaled another breath and ducked her head underwater. Yet again, she was surrounded, by a lively, rippling thing. It was caressing her cheeks, a cold carcass, yet the same time it was warm. It danced around her, massaging her skin and tangling her hair.

Her head popped back to the surface, leaving it cold. She kind of missed the small warmth the water gave her. Annabeth felt as if someone had popped her small bubble and left her vulnerable to the harsh hands of reality.

She kinda liked the water. And she was never going to admit that. Not in front of everyone anyways.

And definitely not in public.

Her mother would disown her.

"Okay, let's tread water." Percy dragged her to a deeper end, where she could only stand on tippy-toes. But Percy-damn him-looked perfectly comfortable standing on his two flat feet.

"Stop standing and do this." He jumped up and started moving his legs.

She narrowed her eyes and held her breath, moving her legs widely, trying to desperately stay above the water.

She did.

For about two seconds.

Then again the silky warmth covered her face. She swung her arms around, her hair floating up to the top, making it wildly tangle together. Annabeth flailed around, the arms making dull splashes and ripples in the water.

Finally, when she rose to the surface she gasped for air and sighed. "That was scary," she breathed.

"It's okay, I'm here." Percy was stroking her hair.

He seemed to snap out of the moment, and put me down. "Try that again," he said in instructor mode.

And we go again, with egg-beater legs that were supposed to make her stay afloat. It was more energy consuming than she thought.

By the time the lesson was down, Annabeth was bone-tired and she could barely stand up. The treading water had really taken a lot out of her.

When she shivered and wrapped herself around with the towel, it was well over twelve, almost one. That was a five-hour swimming lesson. Surprisingly, she like the time she spent with him and liked Percy's presence.

That was another thing Annabeth's mother wouldn't like. Athena didn't want anything to do with Poseidon. Not at all. So when she finds out that her daughter is-Annabeth has no idea what word she would use, fraternizing?-fraternizing with her enemy's son, she would lock Annabeth up. And like that, no more social outings, no more friends, and stuck in a snobby, rich, school just for girly-prats.

Athen's Girl's Private Boarding School. Guess what? There's a huge-ass marble structure of Athena herself in the front. One of those with the blank staring eyes, and no smile. The school isn't even in Athen's. It's in Chicago or something. She'd seen pictures of it from distances away; it's pure white structure like a lighthouse in the dark.

Bleh.

It was quite revolting. She loved her mother and all, but really, a marble virginal white structure? Even Dionysus in his drunken state would choose better color schemes than that. Not only that, the girls wore skirts.

Guess what color?

White. White skirts, with a white collared shirt. And white running shoes. You also get a jacket; it's gold actually, and it's more of a cloak than a jacket. Annabeth was not one to judge on the clothes, but white walls, and white clothes? It was a bit too much, even on Annabeth's judgement.

Annabeth sighed; her fingers were all wrinkly, not that she cared, but Percy, being in the water for hours, seemed undisturbed. If anything, he looked much more relaxed, not cold from the wind, or anything, just like everything was right in the world. He looked much more perf-...unperfect. Really.

All he was doing was attempting to woo her with his oh-so-magical-powers. Like, who wouldn't want to date a son of the Big Three?

But for now, she'd try to stay as far away as possible.

As possible: being the flexible term.

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	8. Chapter 8

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**Miss. Waters**

Chapter 8

After that, swim classes met regularly every Tuesday, after dinner. Other than the 'I will bitch-slap you if you look at my man' looks from Rachel, every so often, things were fine.

Actually, whenever Rachel didn't give her that look, she was pretty nice. If only Rachel knew that she wasn't out to get her 'man'. If Rachel knew that, then they could be good friends.

Classes went on, out of all of them, she liked Architecture Design the best. She thought that Basics of Architecture was just a tad too basic, Greek Mythology was just a tad too easy, English was okay, the books were fine, just a tad too boring, and Math was just...math, a tad too mathy. If that was even possible. Gosh, she'd used tad a lot in those past thoughts.

Architecture Design gave her ideas on how to design Olympus. It had been already two months into school, and no one knew the 'Architect who's building this _awesome _Olympus' yet. News had traveled that Olympus was being redecorated, not by the Gods themselves, but by a demigod. That was an uproar.

Over all, her life was a tad too normal, sometimes; she wished for something weird and interesting to happen.

Her trips to Olympus were every two months, and each time she went for a week, so her first time going to Olympus...was just in a few days.

Annabeth's grades were fine, reaching her desired goal each and every time. Though that didn't come with good things either.

Ever since the whole student body discovered she was...educationally advanced, her name had been dubbed 'Nerdette'. Malcolm, one of her, uh...half-brothers, was dubbed thee 'Nerdy'. Her social class in the school had hit rock bottom. Not that she cared much anyways.

The whole time Piper and Thalia had stuck with her. Piper fared better, as 'not-to-Aphrodite girl', whatever that was supposed to mean, Thalia...Thalia fared better than the both-Piper and Annabeth-combined.

The others got stunned by the Aphrodite kids' amazing looks, and immediately, they were skyrocketed to the top. But not as far as the Big Three got. If you drew the social pyramid of DAFT, then it would probably be-starting from the bottom-Athena, bunch-of-other-cabins, Aphrodite, then a few million blank spaces that Annabeth didn't know, or rather, didn't care, to name, then the Big Three.

Percy was dubbed as 'cute, hot Poseidon's son', Jason, 'hot, charming Zeus's son', Nico as 'death's emo kid', then Thaila 'Zeus's Goth Girl'.

It was like no one bothered with names here. At least 'Nerdette' still was friends with 'cute, hot, Poseidon's son', so that was one of the comforts she got.

What was up with people and smart people? After all, chances are, you were going to end up working for a nerd in the future anyways.

"Hey, _Nerdette!_ Can I borrow your math homework?" It was another Apollo kid, flaunting with his hot-shot bow in flames. He had a flame-resistant glove in one hand. The arrows were on fire, though the wood didn't burn.

The flame flickered dangerously close to Annabeth's homework. She stared warily at the kid.

_Hold it back. They're not worth your tears._

The name stung, but she didn't cry.

She opened her mouth to-what, protest? Scream?-just as her homework caught on fire.

Yelping, she scrambled up and took off her jacket, madly beating at it, trying to take the fire out. Suddenly it was gone, and the paper was soaked. She looked up to see Percy, glaring at the Apollo kid.

"I can't believe I need to look after you Apollos; stupid flaming weapons," Percy muttered.

The Apollo guy looked momentarily shocked, like he was thinking, _Why's he defending an Athena girl?_; then his face expressed fear, which Annabeth savored. Clearly, irritating a kid of the Big Three wasn't a good choice.

He quickly recovered however, and had the nerve to look casual, shoving his hands into his front jean pockets, the flaming weapons disappearing altogether, and leaning back against the wall, all laid back and _cool_. Pathetic, she spat mentally at him, and she wanted to sock him in the nose to wipe that smug smile on his face.

_Let's see how cool and tough you look with your pretty little face bleeding! _she snarled in her thoughts.

Almost as if he read her mind, Percy growled, "Out!", and pointed out the doorway.

When the boy stood still, shocked by his sudden command, Percy repeated, more menacingly, "OUT! And I don't want to catch any of your lot messin' with her again!" Then, for good measure, he added, "Oh, and by the way, her name is _Annabeth_, NOT _Nerdette_."

Finally coming to his senses, the Apollo kid finally managed to nod vigorously in agreement, before plastering a smirk on his face as he turned to look at me while exiting the doorway, like, _Oh, so you need Prince Charming to come to the rescue as your knight in shining armor, huh? No such luck next time, _Nerdette!

When he finally disappeared, she let out a sigh of relief, and Annabeth noticed, that Percy had a more relaxed rather than tensed up posture.

Annabeth smiled at him and whispered a small, "Thanks."

Percy hadn't really talked to her; actually she hadn't seen him except for the occasional Lunch or dinner and the swimming classes. The swimming classes were the best times of her week, actually.

"So, I'll see you at lunch?" Percy asked, ignoring her thank you, or maybe he hadn't heard, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah."

~*LINE BREAK*~

She breathed; she was leaving tomorrow for Olympus to take a look around at the progress. Annabeth would be gone for a week.

She bought her usual lunch-a hamburger, fries, the such, and water, just for good measure on cutting the calories she consumed everyday since she didn't do much exercise. Not that she was concerned with her weight, but still...-and sat down at her usual spot at the table with Thalia and Piper The usual banter ran across the table. It usually consisted of 'Did you hear...?', 'What was homework for_?', or 'Can I copy yours?' kind of stuff.

"Did you hear that Jason hooked up with that Demeter girl?" Thalia was saying to Piper.

Annabeth decided to try and politely interrupt their gossipy conversation to break the news that she'd be gone for a week. "Hey, guys, look, I'll be leaving for-"

However, she was cut off by Piper saying, "Are you serious? Th-that...whatever, I don't like him anyways..."

"I know, but really, it must've stung," Thalia said, insistently teasing Piper.

"Uh, guys I need-" Annabeth started again, but once again, was interrupted by Piper, who made a feeble attempt to change the subject to homework.

"What was homework? I think this time we're learning trig."

"Oh, it was page 234 and 235," Thalia said, taking the bait.

"Can I-"

"How about homework for history? Oh shoot, I forgot, give me your homework to copy down!"

"Piper, Thalia, I need to-" Annabeth tried again.

On this particular day, Rachel decided to grace them with her presence.

"Hey, girls!" she chirped, and sat down next to Annabeth.

She groaned; there was no way in hell that she was going to get even a word into this conversation now. She just sat there and listened, pitching in every so often.

After her afternoon classes were done, she wrote a note, folded it, and dropped it in the mail box in front of the boy's dormitories. It was for Percy to tell him she wouldn't be able to make it to Tuesday's lesson.

Arriving at her room she breathed in. She took out a duffel bag and started packing up for the trip to Olympus


	9. Chapter 9

**Yes. I am updating even though there is no holiday today :) I have about 2 chapters pre-wrote. **

**Fanfiction: It's Called Acting by Lightning-'ANDDeath **

**Book: Team Human by Sarah Rees Brennan**

**Song: Trouble Maker by Olly**

**Drawing: Annabeth Chase**

**Mood: Worried **

Chapter 9

"Where are you going?" someone asked.

Annabeth slowly turned around and put on her best smile. It was Thalia, leaning on the doorway, one eyebrow raised up in question.

"Nowhere important," she said briskly, and hurriedly tried brushing past her. _Such a blatant lie._

Thalia placed an arm across the doorway frame, blocking her escape. "Not. So. Fast." She quirked her lips into a smug smile.

Not answering, Annabeth quickly ducked under and began racing full speed through the hallway, stopping when she arrived at the staircase and elevator. _No time to wait for the lift, _she thought when she turned and skipped steps down the stairs. Her blood pounded in her ears, and she could hear Thalia's footsteps, quickly gaining on her.

Annabeth crashed into someone. Startled, she looked up at Piper's equally shocked face, which quickly turned to curiosity. "Where are you going so fast?" Piper asked.

"Uh..." _Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. Lie. _"Just the library, you know. I need to do some research on that _killer _paper for Basics to Architecture."

That was such a stupid lie. Annabeth mentally hit herself on the head. When did she ever go to the library to do a research for _Basics _to Architecture? She could always easily list a few random facts off the top of her head. Piper caught that, too.

"Spit it out, we all know that B.T.A is too easy for your level," Piper pointed out, folding her arms across her chest, a look of accusation printed on her face.

"Ah..." _Cue sheepish smile. _"You see, I kind of...have to go to..." Annabeth pointed up at the ceiling.

Piper narrowed her eyes and swatted Annabeth's shoulder, harder than was necessary. "Up there? You're sure not a ghost."

Annabeth scanned Piper's face. Piper knew where she was going alright, she just didn't want to say it.

Cross, Annabeth folded her arms, copying Piper's stance. "You know where I'm going. There, you can let me pass now. So I'll just be on my way...see ya later in a week-" She started walking around Piper, but like Thalia, she held out an arm to barricade her way.

"Why would you want to go to that hell hole?" Piper prodded further, narrowing her eyes.

Annabeth toyed with her fingers; when Piper was mad or annoyed, she would be mad and annoyed, Level Extreme. "I kind of _have to go there_."

"Why?" Thaila had caught up. "Sorry, I had to go drink some water."

Double the questions. Double the awkwardness.

"I'm sort of the architect of Olympus now." Cringing, Annabeth waited for their reactions.

Blank looks.

This didn't look good, so Annabeth decided to try and make it less...crazy. "I mean, you know, about the war and...stuff-"

"Whoa! I didn't expect _that_. That's so cool!" Piper shouted, her face now filled with smiles and unicorns. Wait, that didn't make sense at all.

Unicorns. Interesting word. Someone was influencing Annabeth too much. When did she start saying _unicorns_?

"I have to go now," Annabeth said, spotting a white van pulling up in front of the gates.

"Now? But we just found out," Thalia protested.

"Yes, now," Annabeth insisted and flew out the door.

~*LINE BREAK*~

_Percy Jackson was relieved. _Sort of. He didn't know what to feel. He had just received the small little note Annabeth had written to him.

Percy. I'm going to be gone. I will be missing class. Just a heads up so you know.

Annabeth.

It was short and to the point. Not that he cared. Sort of.

He didn't know what to feel now. Relieved because he'd be gone for a week, too. He'd be missing the students he was teaching for swimming. Maybe a bit alarmed, because he didn't know when she was going to come back. Sort of.

What if she was going to be gone for two months? A year? What was he supposed to read out of this note?

Percy was sure he was going paranoid. Sort of.

Did he like her? Yes. Sort of. When did he start liking girls? Never. It was girls liking him. Sort of.

He came to school this year to have more fun than ever. Drinking. Sleeping with girls. That sort of fun.

Not to come here and get a sort-of-crush on a hot (no, cute, she was cute) girl. Gods, he was supposed to charm her and sleep with her. Not flirt and give swimming lessons to her.

But at the same time, he wanted to protect her. From the dangers of the world, from anything, from everything. From people like him. From people with a record like him. From people with a date, who sleep and have dumping tendencies like him. From people who could break her heart, like him.

Maybe falling for her wasn't such a good idea. But then again, Percy wasn't planning on it anyways.

His eyes flickered from his closet to his bags. He should start packing, he'd be leaving soon.

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	10. Chapter 10

**Longer by a little bit. Hope you enjoy :) **

**Daylight Savings killed me. I have 1000000% done. **

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**This chapter is N. O. T. betaed. **

Chapter 10

If you want to know a way to get to Olympus, it'll be pretty hard, that is, if you are a mortal. But if you're a demigod, you got all seventeen ways memorized by heart.

If there were seventeen ways.

But if you're a demigod, you go to the tallest building. The Empire State Building, 600th floor, a one-stop-get-to-the-heavens kind of thing. That is, if you can get past the doorman, which is also, by the way, someone who knows the existence of Gods.

Annabeth's pretty sure that there are also one-stop-get-to-somewhere-magical somewhere else. Like Hades. She doesn't know why anyone would want to go there.

When the driver dropped her off in front of the building, she took out her suitcase, it was gray. She remembered exactly where she placed anything incase some drunk, haywire minor god decides to throw hand grenades at her. Her taser (if it actually works on minor gods, she has no idea, but she wouldn't dare draw that on a major god) was placed on her back pocket, her small dagger, and her cap.

Out of all her possessions (which included what is listed and a bunch of other weird, but interesting things), her computer, her cap, and her clothes were the only normal ones. That was why she prefers them over others. Annabeth could walk out of her car with a baseball cap and no one would question it. Then again, Manhattan was the type of city in which you walked outside in a had made out of bowling pins and a frontless _and _a backless shirt and no one would question it. Like that guy that was walking across the street a few blocks away.

When she walked into the cool atmosphere of the building, she sighed in pleasure. The outside air was dirty and humid. Walking to the elevator, she made sure no one was looking, nodded at the doorman, and hit the 600th floor. Suddenly, the elevator lurched up, lights flickering, and just as quick as it started, it stopped.

One thing she liked about Olympus is that they don't need a drachma to get there. Nico said that if you want to go to Hades, you need a drachma. She pretty sure one of the entrance is under a rock somewhere, a one-drachma-get-to-Hades kind of thing.

Once she stepped off, she could hear the loud drowning redundant noise of whispers and aimless chatter. Minor gods littered about (there are a lot of minor gods, more than you would think of).

The place was still in the ruins she'd grown to be used to. After the war, she had been a frequent visitor, measuring rooms, designing cocktail bars and beanbag chairs. She kicked aside some blackened dust off the tile. The Gods have mended the place pretty well, only missing a crack here and there, but those were fixed quickly by the minor gods who discovered them. Now the place was spic and spam, except for the fine lines and furnishing. She was in charge for that.

She glanced at the empty corner on her right. The snack bar was supposed to be there. She'd have to file in a form to Hephaestus to tell him to make one. She sighed and dropped her heavy backpack onto the cold floor.

Pulling out her blueprints (which were actually just white copy paper taped together), she looked at the layouts The snackbar was just a small rectangle compared to the whole space. It was only twelve feet long, and eight feet high (it is _highly _recommended that Gods stay in their human height when strolling through the carts of food). She took out her pencil (yes, like that classic HB yellow Ticonderoga laying in the bottom of your bag) and drew an arrow from where the snack bar should be: 'Make an _extra large _sign that says "Stay In Human Height When Visiting" above'

Taking out a large binder of blank copy paper, she snapped the binder open, took one out and snapped it shut again. Sketching the outer of the snackbar was easy, until she got to the inside. Annabeth had no idea if the food of the Gods could withstand human materials. What if they put some weird Godly food in one of them and plastic just melts away? That would render it no use at all.

That was another to-do thing on her list: tell Hephaestus to;

1. Build the snack bar

2. Build chairs and tables

3. change the flooring

4. Fix windows

and now: 5. make Godly plastic

Annabeth had no idea what Hephaestus will do when he sees her mile long list (An extra two hundred feet for snack bar description). He couldn't back out of this though.

Now lighting... hmmm, maybe she could ask Iris to make unusually bright rainbows to hang in the sky? Or she could ask Hephaestus to make bulbs. After a silent thinking time, she decided that the first choice was the safer. After all, she didn't want to see her head impaled through a stick and shoved over the fire. Hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully.

She worked for another few hours. Really, it wasn't that long, but she could subconsciously feel the sun slowly edging its way toward the mountains and sinking, until all she could see was the halo of light that was emitted from the light bulb.

Hungry, she looked up, to be face-to-face to the tip of a sword. She looked up and screamed.

**Who do you think it was? Email me: waterbluewings gmail. com or PM me, or But it in my Ask box on tumblr. Comment on Instagram. Or drop a review**

**ANYONE WHO IS RIGHT GETS A FREE SNEAK PEEK AT THE NEXT CHAPTER **


	11. Chapter 11

**Happy St. Patricks Day! Sorry for the late update, but I didn't have a lot of time to write-up another one, so here you go! I'm proud of this one, manage to get together more words than next time.**

**Crazy day last week, didn't get a lot of stuff done for Talented. **

**~waterbluewings**

Chapter 11

She stood up and quickly drew her knife in haste. The metal clinked at each other, and made small sparks. On instinct she drew her cap out and tossed it on her head, making her invisible to everyone (or almost everyone. She hasn't tried it out on the Gods yet, and she's not planning too, only people stupid enough would.) The sword paused, waving blindly in the air. As it neared her, she backed a few steps away, drowned in the darkness. A face appeared in the air, where the halo of light was shining.

She gasped, what was he doing here?

"Percy?"

"Annabeth?"

"Yeah, it's me," She replied, warily taking her hat off. Was it an illusion?

Olympus was dimly lighted right now, the night festivities not yet in full swing. But still, there was still the faint hush of talk lingering in the background from the minor Gods and Goddesses that were milling around.

"What are you doing here?" Annabeth asked, pointing at Percy, then gesturing at the place they were in.

"First of all what are _you _doing here? Aren't you supposed to at vacation or something?" Percy asked, narrowing his eyes.

She couldn't figure out whether he was angry or disappointed.

"Okay, I'm supposed to be here. I've been here for a week, every two months, for as long as I can remember. We can call one of them over and ask too," Annabeth pointed at a God. He shot some nasty words at her, but Annabeth ignored him.

Maybe she stretched the truth a little bit, but what did Percy know about her? She's only been here about three times for the project, but as far as she knows, Percy doesn't come around here often. She thinks.

"Really? Cool. I'm here to see my dad," He said, glancing around nervously.

She nodded, but offered no explanation to why she was here. She just sat down and fiddled her papers, picking up and dropping her pen repeatedly.

"So," Percy started, "Why are you here?"

She paused, "Do you know about that war?"

"Which war?" Percy asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"_That _war," She widened her eyes, to make Percy understand.

Percy nodded, "Oh yea, _that _war which I have no idea what you are talking about,"

Annabeth gave him a dry look, "That one where you got invincible and killed a bunch of monsters,"

"I've fought in a lot of wars Annabeth," He gave her a serious look, "Which one are you talking about?"

"Seaweed Brain, we all know that you've only been in one war,"

Percy pouted, "So, I've been in a lot of fights,"

"They were scrimmages," Annabeth had returned to shuffling all of her pages together and folding them neatly into little squares, "They don't qualify,"

"Anyways," Annabeth continued, "Olympus was a mess. All thanks to you. I had the honor of being chosen to redesign and rebuild this place,"

"What are your plans?" Percy asked casually, but really, he was amazed by the wide expanse of the area.

She pointed at various parts of the room, "Snack bar. Throne room. Statue of Aphrodite. Stature of Area. Statue of Zeus. Statue of Zeus. Statue of Zeus. Statue of Poseidon."

"Why are there so many statues of Zeus?'

"The Gods tell me how many statues they want,"

"How many did Zeus want?"

"About 324,"

"How many are you going to build?"

"Five,"

Percy frowned, "That's not a good idea, won't he get mad?"

"Sometimes, some people's egos need to be knocked down by a few notches," Annabeth looked at Percy meaningfully, "Or a few thousand,"

"What did I do anyways? I'm peaceful! I'm awesome! I'm pretty nice!" Percy raised his hands in defense

Annabeth looked at Percy, "Exactly why,"

"It's not like I'm full of myself! I'm just boosting my self-esteem by telling myself that I am a good person,"

"How many times do you tell that to yourself everyday?"

Percy didn't reply.

Annabeth smiled a bit, "I thought so, Seaweed Brain,"

"Why do you even call me that? It's embarrassing," Percy whined.

"Because your stupid Perseus,"

"Don't call me that! And I'm not stupid,"

Annabeth stared at Percy skeptically, "Oh really? Your stupid because your brain is stuffed with seaweed. I don't know how much seaweed, though,"

"That's stupid. I should be called... Awesome Brain or something. Something that would sound better than that infinitely," Percy protested.

Annabeth wrinkled her nose, "A lot of seaweed apparently. Your creativity is kind of lame, truthfully,"

"Of course it would be lame against yours! You're the freaking daughter of Athena. Isn't it your job to be all smart and shit?"

Annabeth put all of her folders and pens in her backpack, "I'd rather use the word intelligent. I'd also would like to replace 'shit' with curiosity or creativity. I mean, yea, we would be that, when all you do is like, swim and shit," She mocked.

Percy narrowed his eyes. _Whoopsies. _

"You make us sound retarded,"

Annabeth put on her best 'innocent' look, "But aren't you supposed to, being compared to the Athena kids?"

Percy didn't reply, but there was a silent victory that went through the air. Annabeth had won their 'fight'. The perks of being an Athena kid. Maybe they weren't as strong as the Ares kids in the 'street-smart' area, but they would beat everyone else by miles in the 'school-smart' area. But still, that made them ahead by the game in a lot of places. The Athena kids know their strengths and their weaknesses, if you add their strategy skills to the plate, you're facing a lot of people who really know what they're doing. If you're the child of a Big-Three, and you're facing off against a whole cabin of Athenas, you're going down.

"So..." They were in awkward silence.

"Do you want to go eat dinner together later?" Percy asked, casually.

Annabeth narrowed her eyes, "Why?"

"You-you know, not as a date or anything, but there isn't a lot of things here that we can eat actually," Percy stumbled through his words.

Annabeth nodded in agreement, "Sure, why not,"

**Not. Betaed. **

**Looking for a Beta, anyone want to Beta this? **

**This is chapter 11, 11 is my 2nd favorite number, what's your second favorite number? **

**I have braces, and it's clinging onto my cheek, does anyone know an easy and fast way to get it unhooked from your cheek? **

**Though you might like the ending ;) **


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm kind of proud of this chapter, even if it is kind of short. Just found out the magicallness of Chrome. It's pretty awesome, even if I'm pretty sure it crashed twice within the last thirty minuets. But everythings okay. **

**Spring Break: Only. One. Update. I will try to make it two, but I"m going away from Spring break, so I can't. Sorry about that.**

**Blog: waterbluewings. blogspot. com**

**~waterbluewings **

Chapter 12

Annabeth lived in a small room on olympus, it was small, to the gods, it was just a small useless space that they did not need. To Annabeth, it was perfect. She didn't need anything more, she was only staying here for one week maximum anyways.

It wasn't decorated very lavishly, just a bookshelf filled with greek architecture books, a bed, a dresser, a table, nightstand and a bed. There was one window in the room, but it wasn't needed since the blinds were drawn most of the time. There was a small bathroom attached to it, but that was it.

What should I wear?

She opened her drawer. There were various articles of clothings hung neatly in the closet. Even though they were nerds doesn't mean that they couldn't be subconscious about themselves. They were human too.

There were some dresses and skirts in the closet, usually worn in the presence of Aphrodite, but that was about it.

It's just a dinner. It's not like it's a date.

WIth a shrug, she threw on a grey skirt and top. She chose her black flats. Aphrodite had clothing-checked everything before hand. It was hot outside too, it's not like she's wearing it for Percy. Even Annabeth had to admit that she liked Aphrodite's taste. A grey skirt with a pink belt (not her fault!); the flats were black with white bows on them. She pinned her hair into a ponytail and grabbed her white coat from the rack and hopped out.

The weather in Manhattan was unusually warm this season, which she found was quite peculiar. Percy was waiting for her outside wearing jeans, a solid blue shirt, and a dark pair of Raybans. He was (kind of) cute right now, just a little bit. Feeling awkward, she took out her own pair of glasses that she always kept at the bottom of her purse. A pair of grey shades that shielded her eyes from the sun. She didn't need any of that useless expensive shit, she had a pair of study glasses for five bucks.

"Let's go," He said, and took out his car keys. Even those looked expensive. They walked a few blocks away until they stopped in front of the blue mustang she saw him drive in on the first day.

Percy opened the passenger seat and closed it behind her. As the car started with loud strong pur, they raced down the streets at breakneck speeds. Annabeth could tell that the car was holding back, since Percy couldn't go very fast in the busy streets of Manhattan.

"How did you get to Olympus?" Percy asked, looking at the stoplights.

"The school let me go since I was working for Olympus, usually they don't let first years go, but I think I'm an exception." She stated, her feet itching to be put on the car's dash. She planted them firmly on the floor, telling them to stop.

"Cool," Perchy said, leaning to look at the street signs more clearly. His fingers were drumming over the wheel.

The car looked sleek, clean and modern. Everything looked so foreign to her after years of driving in dirty cars, and eating instant noodles for dinner. It made her feel alone, like she wasn't made for Percy's world. Not only was she a nerd, she was part of the poorer division in the school. She was here on scholarship, she wasn't going to lose it because she was wanted to kiss some boy.

She reached out a finger to trace the fake, but beautiful leather. She reached to turn on the radio, asking if she could with her eyes. Percy nodded, and his fingers clasped around Annabeth's, guiding her to turn to the channel he wanted.

"This isn't a good channel," She accused, "I know of way better ones."

Percy laughed, "Just shut up and listen to it Wise girl. It's good music."

"This is crap compared to my classical music," Annabeth rolled her eyes, and reached out to change the channel. Percy's hand was on the knob, not letting her change the channel.

"Stupid Seaweed Brain." She muttered.

Percy smiled at her, "You know you love me."

Annabeth promptly blushed and Percy looked away. She didn't love him. She just liked him. A lot. But not enough for it to be love.

After the lapse of [very] awkward silence, Percy cleared his throat, "We're here."

She looked out and gulped. What if your not-boyfriend brings you to one of the most expensive (but it's still casual wear) restaurants in town?

**What would you do? If Percy was taking you out, what would you wear? (I might mention it in the next chapter... ;) ) Drop a comment, PM, or email me at waterbluewings gmail. com **


	13. Message

**Hello my fellow readers.**

I am terribly sorry to say that this fic will be on _Hiatus _or it may also be _deleted. _

_Why?_

Because I don't have the time to write anymore. Also, I'd like to finish this story before uploading it. This story is only 15,000 words, nothing much and the plot has barely developed. I think I will be leaving this up for another few months/years until I either delete it or pick it up again.

_When will I be back?_

I really don't know. I'll probably type up everything over the summer and the earliest... next November-Janurary. No promises though.

_What can I do in the meanwhile? (It's not like you depend on my fic, even if I enjoy to think it that way)_

I will be active, **you can always PM me. **I will always reply within two days. I will also be **regularly posting fics. **Read a lot!

_Recommendations?_

I am currently reading Eve and Adam by Michael Grant

I am currently listening to Coldplay

I am currently eating Italian Food

I am currently working on Ink and Paper: my novel

I am currently doing homework (it's in fashion guys!)

I am currently wearing a orange custom shirt, flare jeans, and crochet Toms.

Other book recommendations are:

A. The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

B. The Infernal Devices Series (completed) by Cassandra Clare

C. Starcrossed Series by Angelini

D. Covenant Series (completed) by Armentrout

E. Lux Series by Armentrout

F. Percy Jackson/Harry Potter/other good famous books

Good Fic Recommendations?

A. Will be cleaning up my favorites in the next two weeks.

Song Recommendations?

A. Coldplay

B. You Could be Happy by Snow Patrol

C. Cable car by The Fray (?)

P.S. Wattpad is a good place to look for fics.

Contact:

Email: waterbluewings (gmail)

Tumblr:

Blog: waterbluewings (blogspot)

Goodreads: Aud Waters

Just PM me for other accounts!

Bye!


	14. Talented Is Back Up!

**Talented : Redux is up!**

_New and improved! _

There are a few changes though:

Annabeth is now there on a scholarship, called the Jackson Scholarship which is funded by Percy Jackson.

Percy Jackson is now uber rich.

Rachel won't be as bitchy, but still a little bit bitchy.

Everything is basically the same. Nothing is really different. _Percy will not act like some stuck up spoiled brat. _

**I am not updating on holidays, but whenever I am finnished with a chapter. **

Thanks!

waterbluewings


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